The Holocaust Survivors’ Foundation-USA published an open letter calling on Schindler’s List director Steven Spielberg to condemn Hamas’s massacre.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/culture/article-772570
While the Hollywood Jewish community has been looking to Schindler’s List director Steven Spielberg, perhaps the most influential and respected Jew in the movie industry, to comment publicly about the massacre of thousands of Jews and the kidnapping of hundreds by Hamas that started the current war, an organization of Holocaust survivors has decided it can no longer wait patiently.
On November 2, nearly a month after the horrific slaughter of October 7, the Holocaust Survivors’ Foundation-USA published an open letter by its president, 94-year-old David Schaecter, calling on Spielberg to make a statement condemning the massacre.
Schaecter begins the letter by expressing his admiration for Spielberg, especially for documenting the horrors of the Holocaust in Schindler’s List. He went on to describe how most of his family members were murdered in the Holocaust and how he survived four years in Nazi camps Auschwitz and Buchenwald, where he watched his brother die.
Expressing his frustration, Schaecter wrote: “That is why I, along with countless other survivors, are so heartbroken that, since Oct. 7, 2023, you have not spoken out and publicly taken a stand against terrorism, against Hamas and the millions who celebrate the shedding of Jewish blood – and want more.
“With all my heart, I urge you to speak out for the children, women, and men kidnapped and held hostage, and in support of Israel and Israel’s right to defend herself.”
Referring to the USC Shoah Foundation that Spielberg founded, which collects the testimonies of Holocaust survivors, he wrote: “Wasn’t the purpose of recording 50,000 testimonies of our fellow survivors to make sure the world would never be able to deny, and must never forget, the Nazis’ systematic murder of 6 million Jews, including 1.5 million children? On Oct. 7, Hamas committed the worst atrocities against the Jewish people since the Holocaust.”
Schaecter praised celebrities such as Gal Gadot and Jerry Seinfeld, who did speak out to condemn the massacre, adding: “Mr. Spielberg, Schindler’s List was about one man having the moral courage to risk his life to save others. We are not asking you to risk your life. We are asking you to use your voice... As the premier Jewish filmmaker in the world, your silence now is a comfort for our enemies... We do not need another film in three years about the horrors of October 7th. Instead, we need you and others to speak out NOW, when it truly matters.”
